"Man a divinity in embryo,
Who, ere he reign above, must serve below;
His spirit in earth element baptize,
For birth and death are baptism[16] to the wise. 2150
The space that parts the lower from the higher,
Spanned by development of son to Sire,
Of daughter unto Mother's high estate,
Where man and woman are inseparate.
"Time a probation; earth, through time, a school,
Where justice reigns, though oft the unjust rule.
Pain, trouble, toil, preceptors of the soul;
Death, birth, but portals to and from life's goal—
Life's fount, where all as infant spirits sprang,
And sons of God in countless chorus sang, 2160
Unheeding earthly sorrow[17]—parent pang
Of after joy, o'er which their triumph rang.
"The fall, whereby the worlds are put in pawn,
And held in durance till redemption dawn,
A plan divine that changeth part to whole,
Immortal spirit to immortal soul.
"Second estate[18] here interlinked with first,
For godliness where spirit life was nurst,
And Satan's rebel host, heaven's third, were sent
To unentabernacled banishment; 2170
Tempters, beguilers, triers of the true,
Who now reap greater gain, or sadly rue
The loss of all, surrendering to him
Who warreth endlessly 'gainst Elohim,
And, shorn of glory, would all light bedim;
Where many, wrecked, to awful depths go down,
While few return to wear the waiting crown,
Reigning where others serve.
"Each woe, each bliss,
In after worlds, the yield of life in this; 2180
Here garnered are the fruits from fields of yore,
And sown the harvest of the evermore.
"The called are not the chosen past mischance;
The sanctified to glorified advance,
And stewardship becomes inheritance.
Redemption free, for God hath paid the price;
All else man wins by toil and sacrifice.
"As sun, or moon, or varying star[19], appears
Each heir of glory in those endless spheres:
Sun-like the souls that live celestial laws, 2190
And moon-like they who at terrestrial pause—
Who honor not the Saviour in the flesh,
But after, in the spirit realm, refresh
Their fainting, fettered lives at mercy's fount,
And, far as merit buoys them, upward mount;
Saved, glorified, by faith and penitence,
Made valid, through vicarious ordinance[20],
For all who Him believe, who Him obey,
And own in other worlds His sovereign sway.
Nor lost forever souls unsaved today: 2200
Telestial they who taste the pangs of hell,
And pay guilt's debt ere they in glory dwell,
Twinkling as stars whose numbers none can tell.
"Souls that to high celestial realms have won,
Dwell with the gods, beholding Sire and Son;
While bounds are set that bar terrestrial heirs
(With whom the Gracious One his presence shares),
And dwellers in the far telestial spheres,
To whom the Holy Spirit ministers.
God's servants these, but to His glorious home— 2210
The loftiest heights of heaven—they cannot come.
"Justice and Mercy each shall have its own,
Nor one thrust other from the dual throne;
Each shoal and deep a final fullness see,
And like clasp like through all eternity.
"But who shall sound the bottomless despair
Of one condemned the second death to share?
If, re-ensnared in Satan's subtle mesh,
A soul redeemed its Saviour pierce afresh,
Spurning the Spirit, scorning proffered ruth, 2220
A traitor utterly to light and truth,
Then flames perdition's gulf, death's last abyss,
The lake of fire, all life's antithesis.
All power then powerless to change its plight;
For what avails the burnt-out lamp to light?
Justice can lay no blame on blameless shelves,
Nor mercy save when souls will damn themselves.